Ldub "our back yard"

On a day to day basis the Little White provides the norishment and care to us members of the Beaver Lodge. Without the presitne waters to clense our senseable sole's we would melt away like the Wicked Witch of the West. It's late July and the L.W. still has a good flow in it, amazed yet we also got the Cispus and Truss in 3 days. Northwest got Game!!

L.J. "the cane brings the pain"

Stout Master Miguel doing his thing, what's that you ask, Layin' Treats!

Kiwi's can kill with steeze too! Skux proves um' wrong.

Class open your books schools in session E.G. comes to slay.

L.J. on the falls of Sprit, yes thats a Huricane, KAVU day repersent.

T.A. Hood rivers main man repin' fish boats on the stouts. We had a crew this day.

Cheese at the Putin on yet another good day of kayaking in the Willard area.

Keel on one cool boof in the Boogie waters.

Ryan on the backender Birthday Eddy.

Wishbone Andy Maser questions???

Austin Rathman on the Stovepipe, blowin smoke on the LW.

Photos by Max B and Me.

It's almost August and we are still in the shit here at the Beaver. It's all good in the Hood as they say... we layin' treats... every single day.

Later E.G.

Bull Lake Creek

Ever since first hearing about Bull Lake creek the idea had rang out in my head as a rive3r i wanted. But the idea of a 20 mile hike seemed marginally appealing. Combing over maps and doing a morning fly mission i found something else that apealled even better. roads that led to only 5 miles from a potential put in and a different fork of the creek that was yet to be explored and looked to be promissing. And finally it came together. Yet as it turned out roads on the reservation have worn away and now remain in unkept condition and have turned to trails. After arranging a shuttle and getting droped off in the middle of Bear country myself, Jared Seiler, Evan Stafford, and Kyle McCutchen began our hike.

Upon reaching the 12,000 ft mountain pass we were shocked at how much more work the mission had turned into. With the winds ripping and hail flying we began our descent into the NF Bull Lake valley.

Finally after droping over a 1000 vertical feet we made it back into the shelter of the trees and and made camp as our legs were trembling. In the morning we awoke to a view of gannett peak and the other near 14000 foot peaks that drain into the Bull Lake Basin.

Finding our way down a small tributary with out a trail we finally made it to the NF around noon. Stating our way down with a majority of the gradient behind us we began our descent of the last 3 miles toward the Main Bull Lake.

Evan and Ian crossing one of the Lakes on the hike down to the NF early morning day 2

Jared on a super fun slide in the NF BLC early day 2

Evan boofing the final drop on the NF BLC

After clearing through the North Fork we were all a little beat and decided to paddle down a little bit of the Lakes section on the Main, which is by far the best section of the river. And we then decided to camp just above Hagendazeen, so then we could get a little "Ice Cream for Breakfast"

Ian crossing from left to right through the exploding curler on the 3rd run of Hagendazeen

Jared coming around the pillow move at the top of Hagendazeen, he flipped in the pillow on the front side of the rock smacked out a quick roll and styled the bottom of the drop backwards.

Kyle after a little contemplation stepped up to the plate and greased Hagendazeen for the 5th descent.

Jared sailing a boof ready before for big hole explosion

Ian early in day 3 on a sweet double drop the ended in a big hole.

Evan finishing out the runout of the Jim Bridger Portage, down in to the lake that seems to be miss placed.

Kyler coming through the gorge between one of the lakes and Bull Lake Falls late in day 3

Ian coming through one of the continous steep sections.

Evan in the middle of Bull Lake Falls portage. the 400 ft cascade where all you can do is scramble down the rolling boulders to the river that you see so far below. normally this portafge would seem like hell but not the case as it is really one of the easier ones in here.

Camp on night three where all 4 of us crammed under my single man shelter for a couple of hours as the rain poured down. so much for that 10% chance of showers.
And after making our way over the pass and through the canyon in 4 days, a day less than any other group it was not that exciting to see the lake empty as we began our 9 mile paddle across the lake and back to the car. And after a short drive back to the other car it was pretty much mandatory to get a big ol' Fat Boy Ice Cream sandwich before cruising back home.

Overall having the higher flow in the creek was nice as our boats were starting to wear thin, yet i think with a lower flow one could step up and attemp to run many more of the drops that lie with in the canyon. but Bull Lake truely is an amazing place, just for those who are willing to put forith some serious effort into a hike that dwarfs those such as MK or UCC

For more updates on Bull Lake Cr. check www.teampyranha.com and www.coloradokayaking.com

Later

IG

More G.Games Photos

Here are some more shots of the Gorge Games race down the Green Truss. This was the last rapid of the race. It made for some good fast and slow lines. You just needed to lay treats on Big Brother and come through Double fast, then it was all good.

Me bone-in' out the boof into double drop.

Salmon jump? not quite but it was there.

Resurface, look at dat grill, emotions ran high, and fire was in my eye!

Flying Dela off "Karen's Box". Repin' for Tdub.

The "Grande" was fast through the rapids, but in flat water it pushed a lot of water so it felt a bit slow. Over all it was a good choice for the race, due to the difficulty of the main rapids. LL be killin' it.

Later E.G.

All Shots by Kayaker Kate.

Later E.G.

Games of the Gorge!

Well being a high profile employee of All Star rafting here on the White Salmon river my chances of competing at the gorge games were slim. It was the most busy weekend of the summer. I luckily found a good Kiwi mate "Skux" to work for me so vigorous training began a day before the race. 1 lap down the run was all I needed. In the end the race was super fun. We did an elimination round for 15 people to go up to the Truss to compete.

Me with some funky angle at the big brother. But I didn't go in the cave!

Lane with a nice line off of the sauce in a Kendo.

Tao won this event, but lost the other two to my main man Sam Sutton. Killa for real! I ended up in sixth, it was the fault of the Mayor of the Beaver Lodge, he was holding me back. But it was alright out of 15 solid kayakers.

Sam after beating Tao on the course he was pissed.

Todd Cheating during the head to head. Got ya buddy.

All the shots were by other folks sitting on the shore. Thanks dogs. Well done for all.

Later E.G.

A Misadventure in Cali

There are always times when a mission comes up that you are fired up on, but sceptical. This was one of those times. We drove from Dinkey creek to Groveland to do the South fork of the T. It was a big box canyon with some big hucks if you're feeling it.

Chris and Ben scouting the unrun slide that turned them back.

Me hiking in to a nice view point where I could see many cool waterfalls, but not kayak them.

My poor Subi with a load on her back.

Well lets say I got there, a pretty amazing spot for sure, and didn't feel it. I hiked right on out without even touching the water. It was a good thing though because they ran one mank pile of a slide go to some insane horizon line and had to climb and walk their way back out. It was all good though now I know whats in there and don't really want to go back. Maybe for a cool 40 footer but its a big move to stomp it. photo by Darin McCoid of jscreekin.blogspot.com

Later E.G.

Layin' Treats L.W.S.

This is what I get to do everyday before or after work @ the Beaver Lodge. Little White got game and we got the treats to lay.

Tyler Montana steeze on the rivers out here keepin' it real while hucking.

Me monkey man in effect.

More NW action soon.

Later E.G.

White Salmon Appreciation Day

So after a few day on the Little White we decided to have a big day to show our love for our backyard river by running all the sections all together without stopping. We put in high close to Mt. Adams and ran all the way to our house at Northwestern lake. It was great with only 2 portages around Lava Falls and BZ falls. They went but I was sore and tired. By the time we got to them.

"Layin' Treats" on the White Salmon:

Me running the left line at Big Brother on the Truss 4+ feet on the gauge.

Ian making sure he does not fall victim to Karen's Box. It can be sticky in those depths.

Miguel droppin' offramp the last drop above the Truss.

The gorge below Lava Falls on the Farmlands.

Miguel and Marshall shooting the boot after a big few days of kayaking.

Ian on left line @ Big Brother high water.

Good livin' @ the lodge, now the Northwest is home for this rolling stone. For the time being!

Later E.G.

Cali's gas prices drive me North

After a long month and a half of getting mine in "the golden state" I had hit an amazing amount of rivers and spent and amazing amount on gas. One time it cost me 75$ to fill my 16 gallon Subi up. Thats when I knew that there had to be a counter option to all this fossil fuel burning.

Ring...ring... "hello". LJ Groth was packing on his way to the D.R. of the Congo in central Africa, to do a first descent of a massive section of the largest river on earth. He needed a new employee for All Star Rafting in White Salmon during his leave. I could not resist. I would leave right after Upper Cherry to go live in the "Beaver Lodge". This place had been my haven for kayaking trips to the Northwest the last 2 years. Now it was my time to put in some work and live it up.

River List: South Branch, Big Kimshew, South Yuba, South American, South Silver, North American, EF NF NF American, Middle Kaweah, Kaweah, East Kaweah, North Mokelumne, Dinkey creek, West Cherry, Cherry creek. + some more missions and scouting adventures.

After stopping in at Mt. Shasta to visit some amigos I was off again to Hood River for an undisclosed amount of time. Here I am sitting in the Lodge typing on a morning off of work ready to go fire something up for a good day out there.

Later E.G.

Pristine High Waters of Cherry

Pristine....Powerful....Pulsating....Punchy...Picturesque...Perfect!

The dominating urge to go to Upper Cherry,
And make it down without being too scary,
After a shut down of Hell's Kitchen,
there was to be no more bitchen,
for we hiked in,
and we did it fast,
but we had one missing member of our cast,
so we waited on,
till the break of dawn,
then found him down the stream,
for less than a scream,
we dropped the tall,
C.Bomb, kiwi, dead bear and all,
for this trip was not easy,
because the water was mack dad slizzy,
high and clear,
we all had a cheer,
then sat down for an ice cold beer.



Gorilla falls main!!!!

Stomp that Cherry Bomb.

poetry by Evan Garcia I will be here all week ladies. But seriously the water was much higher than I haver ever had before and we were all stoked on the results. It made the run better, but harder in my mind. Come one come all enjoy this place it's all sorts of good.

Later E.G.